Episode Overview

One in seven Canadians have a disability, yet we would be hard-pressed to find a true representation of this in our everyday lives. Sue Crawford, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Enable, is working to challenge the status quo of both physical and social accessibility – enabling our communities in the process.  

This past year Sue completed her Master of Nursing from the University of Calgary. She is a faculty member at the School of Health & Wellness at Bow Valley College and works as a registered nurse with Psychiatric Emergency Services at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

After over a decade of working in the disability space, Sue noticed an overwhelming gap in the ways that families with disabilities access community support. She took this as a call-to-action and co-founded Enable. Since its inception, Enable support workers have contributed nearly 20,000 hours of one-on-one support to young people with disabilities. Sue has been named the University of Calgary’s most promising entrepreneur and the face of the 2010-2020 decade of nursing; a finalist for the Western Legacy’s Innovation award; the Prairies winner in Social Innovation through Startup Canada; and one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40.

“Think about accessibility in your business and community. How are you contributing – positively or negatively – to those spaces?”

On this week’s THRIVE Podcast, sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada and Scotiabank, Sue discusses accessibility, running a community support organization, and balancing a nursing career and startup life.  

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